Toto Wolff delivers '100%' verdict after Kimi Antonelli demotion talks

Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff has provided a defiant verdict on Kimi Antonelli's future, following rumours of a demotion for the Italian teenager.

Antonelli is currently set to be out of contract in December 2025, with just seven race weekends remaining in the season, having not signed a new deal with Mercedes for 2026 as of yet.

He is, however, in the same position as his team-mate George Russell who, despite some exceptional performances in 2025, currently does not have a drive for next season.

Wolff has constantly reiterated that both Russell and Antonelli will be in his two cars next season and that there is no rush to agree on a deal, but no official news of either driver's contract has been released.

Meanwhile, rookie Antonelli's performances have fallen off dramatically following a strong start to the season, only scoring points in four of the last 11 race weekends.

This led to rumours that he could be used as part of a swap deal with Williams, a team that Mercedes have a strong partnership with.

Ex-F1 star and pundit Ralf Schumacher publicly proposed that perhaps Williams star Carlos Sainz could replace Antonelli if Wolff felt a swap was needed ahead of what is set to be a crucial 2026 season.

However, Wolff has now disbanded these rumours for good, telling Sky Italia that he has full confidence in Antonelli.

Who will drive for Mercedes in 2026?

Wolff is very confident that Antonelli will remain a part of Mercedes' driver lineup in 2026, reaffirming this view to Sky F1's Italian site.

"All these stories, that we are thinking of sending Kimi to Williams or Alpine are completely nonsense. Zero," he said.

"Kimi will stay 100 per cent at Mercedes next year, all the stories are lies... actually I see him smiling now."

Antonelli - who was sat down as part of the same video interview - then interrupted, saying: "Let's say that he told it to me in a different way that it's better not to say."

Wolff replied: "No. I told him what would I do if that actually happened but it's impossible to say on television."

Despite the pair's announcement, the question still remains as to why the contract hasn't been finalised and officially announced, with 2026 such a big year for the team thanks to new regulations.

Mercedes and Wolff were publicly pursuing the services of Max Verstappen for much of 2025, but the four-time world champion has now confirmed that he will be staying at Red Bull for the 2026 season.

There is no reason to suggest that Mercedes' driver duo won't be Russell and Antonelli next year, but reports have stated that Russell was unhappy at his team's attempt to sign Verstappen, and that he and Wolff are still working on coming to an agreement over a new deal.

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